From Then to Now
by RiverCookie
Summary: Darkrai reflects on how he went from a memory-less outcast to where he is now. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon universe!
1. The First Day

When I first opened my eyes on the sandy beach, I had no idea who I was.

It was strange, lying there, my body aching vaguely, remembering everything about the world except for myself. Those were palm trees! That was a rock right beside my head! That was the sea, with its waves coming uncomfortably close to engulfing me! But what was I?

I tried to ignore the throbbing pain in my head and remember something about myself. My name? Thankfully in reach. What happened right before I regained awareness? There was...a scream? A horrible, horrible scream, and the sound of shattering...those were the only memories I had left.

I laid there for quite some time with my eyes closed, just listening to the waves while trying to regain the energy to move. The sea breeze was pretty comfortable, besides the salty stinging it inflicted on my wounds, and the sound of the waves moving in and out was very calming. I could have just stayed there forever, if no one came around.

Of course, someone did. Looking back now, though, I'm very grateful that the ones who did discover me there on the shore were the ones that they were.


	2. A New Home

Some time after I had woken up, I heard footsteps approaching. Two voices were engaged in a very lively conversation about the practicality of throwing ammo, until they suddenly cut off as they presumably caught sight of me. A Mudkip and a Chimchar stood before me with their mouths agape when I opened my eyes to see who had just arrived. They were shocked to find me there, and even more shocked to find that it was me, almost repulsed. I had no idea why they were so upset, and that upset me.

As they ground their teeth and prepared their attacks, I mustered the strength to ask why they were so furious. As they started to answer, they seemed to remember something of their own. Something about what "Cresselia" said. I was too weak to ask any further.

When they realized that they were not speaking to the being that they remembered, they softened (and stopped preparing to blast me into the stratosphere), and offered me shelter as an apology. As I had no place to stay and was still too exhausted and hurt to find one, I accepted their kindness.

The next few weeks I spent simply resting and trying to remember myself, though my rescuers weren't very supportive of the latter task for reasons they refused to reveal. It was a fruitless endeavor, anyways, as I could not remember a single thing more, or even a trace of anything, but their discomfort at my attempts to remember something was...discomforting.

The Mudkip, whose name was Brookie, would go off with her aptly-nicknamed Buddy to fight crime and explore the land during the day, and come back with stories of their adventures. When I had recovered enough to move around normally again, I offered to assist them on their journeys, having nowhere to go and needing someone to guide me. They accepted me, and thus I became a member of Team Liquifire.


	3. Reintroduction

I spent many happy months with the team, learning how to battle, making friends, being thanked. I relearned the rules of mystery dungeons, found a comfortable style of battling, and slowly began to be accepted into the nearby Treasure Town.

A kind member of the team with the nickname Crescent helped me through some of my hardest times, and found me a place to live. She congratulated me on my reintroduction to society, but by the expressions on her face and on Brookie and Buddy's faces, I could tell that this meant more than just learning how to fit in again. I tried a few times to ask her what relationship they had with my past self, or what relationship she had with me, but my efforts were rebuffed.

Tensions like this remained wherever I went. Friends would stare at me with strange expressions whenever our conversations touched on certain topics, strangers would shoot apprehensive glances my way, and no one would treat me quite how they would anyone else. A young Marill and his little brother stared at me like I was a demon. Some of my teammates nearly kicked me out of spacetime before I could explain to them that I was harmless.

Brookie and Buddy had to explain to every new person we came across about how I was not an evil creature, how I was perfectly safe, how they would make sure of that. But even after they explained, I could still feel their eyes boring into my back, trying to find some speck of evil in my soul, waiting for me to explode. And for all of this time, I did not know, nor was I ever allowed to know, what I had done to deserve this treatment.

While my casual actions suggested otherwise, I was not happy for a very long time.


	4. All the Days

There came the day when our team took on a mission that none before us could ever manage to complete. Deep in Dark Crater, a gang of criminals hid, causing havoc and defeating anyone who dared to challenge them. A remarkable reward had been offered for their capture, fitting for the difficulty it had been assigned.

Brookie and Buddy seemed unusually nervous as they looked at the drawings of the criminals on the wanted poster, but they accepted the mission anyways. For some reason, despite all of the stronger Pokemon that Team Liquifire had recruited, they chose me to accompany them, muttering things like "he's ready" or "it's about time".

I was delighted to have been chosen for such a challenging mission, but I was also uneasy about my role, and angered that they continued to deny me further knowledge of myself. What was so horrible about me that they could not just tell me? Was I a mass-murderer? Did I once steal the most precious thing in the universe? What did I do? Why couldn't they spit it out?

My hidden fury helped speed us to the bottom of the pit, and there, we met our targets. A slithering Arbok, a ghostly Mismagius, a stony-faced Rhyperior, a steely Aggron, and a fiery Magcargo. They would have been terrifying to the greatest of exploration teams even in repose.

...But when they saw us, their faces clouded over in rage, their mouths spat hate-filled words, and their bodies assumed a stance for battle. We had not been prepared for terror this great.

And when they saw me, everything went to hell.

My dear comrades fell quickly beneath their volleys of flame and fury. They leered at me once I was the last one standing, whispering to me of promises I didn't remember making, speaking to me of crimes I couldn't remember committing. They urged me to look back with singsong voices, asking if I really couldn't remember what I had done. I really couldn't.

But then I did.

It was not nice.


	5. Nope

When I had finished screaming, they charged in at me, demanding payment for the service they had provided me. For battling my former enemies, my current friends.

In my post-remembrance panic, I tried to flee, but they would not allow for that. They shattered the ground where I tried to hide as shadow, they sped in front of me when I tried to dash for an exit, they offered no escape, and no mercy.

They grabbed me by the arms, threw me to the ground, blasted me with all they had and trampled what was left. They laughed to see their glorious master mashed into paste beneath their feet, laughed that such a prideful creature would be reduced to such a wreck. They pulled me up, and had me watch as they held my team leaders above the bubbling lava, telling me that they were about to finish the mission I had given them. They told me that I would watch as they finally destroyed my archenemies, and then they would destroy me.

But they weren't my archenemies anymore, were they? I remembered why I hated them. I remembered why I wanted them dead. They denied me my happiness, they took away my glory, they took away everything. Or so I thought at the time. What would have happened if I had succeeded? Would I be happy in the darkness by myself? Would there be glory in ruling over a dead world? Would I even have anything left if I destroyed everything?

And as Brookie and Buddy opened their eyes and stared back at me, I asked myself, what had they given me in return for my murderous history with them? What had they given me as punishment for my sins?

The best days of my life. The best, most beautiful days of my life.

So I ended the battle.


	6. The Rest of the Days

It took us a week to recover from that mission. The Magnemite police were a little dubious about the good of not having any criminal left to apprehend, but it was good enough for the rest of us.

I was out for a while longer than Brookie and Buddy. While my injuries were only somewhat severe, the strain of my final attack was...worse. By what I heard from my dear friends after I awoke, the ground exploded into darkness and our enemies were dragged into the shadows. I do not wish to contemplate their fate, nor do I ever want to repeat the feat again.

Cresselia visited me while I was figuring out how to float again, and congratulated me again, this time for coming to terms with myself. It's a little awkward to be friends with someone you've been so vitriolically embroiled in hatred with, but she's very understanding, even to me. If I were that old Darkrai, I wouldn't have expected her kindness to extend so far, but the old Darkrai was an idiot, and we all know it. She still pokes fun at me about my old idiot self, but that's a given.

The next week I spent apologizing to the denizens of Treasure Town for the strife I had caused in my past life, and anybody else that I came across, now that I could clearly remember it. While certain forms of hostility didn't die out immediately (Diamond and Pearl still hold grudges against me, I believe), the acceptance I did gain was enough for me. Some balmy Staravia heard our story and weaved an incredibly romanticized version of it to share with the world, so that helped as well.

I've considered hiding away in my dark home before, while the townspeople glared at me behind my back, but it's much better now. Their hatred has waned with mine. I'm sure we will work this out in the end.

I have not been absolved of my crimes, but I am on the path to it. May we all live to our fullest for the rest of our lives.


End file.
